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Book time is the AMC White Mountain Guide's rule for how long a hike takes: 30 minutes per mile, plus 30 minutes for every 1,000 ft of climbing, not counting breaks. It's the standard estimate for White Mountain hikes.

Tenacious is faster than book time, for hikers who usually beat guidebook times. Standard is book time. Easygoing takes a quarter longer, for a relaxed pace with photo stops. Your pace moves your finish time, your latest safe start, and how much water to bring.

Shoe grip is how much bite your soles have on rock. Good tread means deep, sharp lugs, like most hiking boots and trail runners in good shape. Worn tread means the lugs are worn flat or there are smooth patches, or the shoes were never made for trails, like everyday sneakers.

It matters because worn soles slip on wet rock, open slabs and roots, so they raise the rating on those sections.

Ankle support means boots that come up over the ankle. On rocky trails, most twisted ankles happen on the way down, when legs are tired, and almost always in low-cut shoes or trail runners.

Traction for ice is anything you strap over your shoes for ice and packed snow. Microspikes are a rubber harness with short chains and spikes, and are what most hikers here carry from late fall to spring. Crampons have long steel points and are for steep, hard snow and ice above treeline, usually with stiff boots.

In the White Mountains, ice can linger on trails and slabs from October into May, often under a dusting of snow. Snowshoes are for deep snow, not ice, so they don't count here.